I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast

Episode 215 is all about Tarchia, a Mongolian ankylosaur that was likely prey of Tarbosaurus.

We also interview Past Time podcast, Matt, Adam, and Catherine are the hosts of the paleontology podcast Past Time. They are all also paleontologists working with reptiles, lemurs, and bird brains. Check them out on Facebook or Twitter.

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The new theropod Saltriovenator zanellai from the Italian alps pushes back the first date of 1 ton carnivores to the earliest Jurassic source

A fluid mechanics model confirms that ankylosaur nasal passages could have cooled their brains source

A team of 60 people have recovered about 1,500 items from the ashes of Rio’s National Museum source

The Bayville dinosaur in Berkeley Township, New Jersey is now fully restored and back source

The three Drumheller dinosaur sculptures which were damaged beyond repair are on schedule to be replaced this spring source

The new Aquaman movie apparently features T. rex like dinosaurs source

The dinosaur of the day: Tarchia

Ankylosaurid that lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia

Tarchia had a broad, low body and short, strong legs

Walked on four legs

Head was covered in armor

Had osteoderms on the body, and probably had a tail club

Had spikes on its back

Tarchia lived in the desert

Probably prey for Tarbosaurus

One Tarchia skull has tooth marks from Tarbosaurus

Found in 1970 by a Polish-Mongolian expedition (found a skull)

Described in 1977 by Teresa Maryanska

Type species is Tarchia kielanae

Name means “brainy one”

Genus name comes from the Mongolian word tarkhi

Had a larger brain than other similar ankylosaurs, and that’s why it’s named the “brainy one”

Species name is in honor of Professor Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, who led the expedition that found the fossils

Holotype includes a skull roof, braincase, and parts of the rear of the skull

Three other specimens were referred to Tarchia, and included tail vertebrae (including part of the tail club and a scute) and a right humerus

Tatyana Tumanova named a second species in 1977, Tarchia gigantea

Trachia gigantea was originally Dyoplosaurus giganteus (named in 1956 by Maleev)

In 1987, Tumanova found that Dyoplosaurus and Tarchia were the same, which made Dyoplosaurus giganteus a senior synonym to Tarchia kielanae

Most scientists agreed, and the two names were combined into Tarchia gigantea

Then Victoria Arbour found that Dyoplosaurus giganteus was a nomen dubium (not distinguishable from other ankylosaurs from the same time in Mongolia), and revived Tarchia kielanae (she found that a specimen with a tail and club that was referred to Dyoplosaurus giganteus was different from the Dyoplosaurus holotype)

Arbour also found that the specimen Tumanova referred to be Tarchia in 1977 was actually Saichania (another ankylosaur from Mongolia), which was well preserved and defined how Tarchia was illustrated and depicted (and changed how we thought Tarchia looked)

Arbour found that the holotype of Tarchia was similar to Minotaurasaurus (named in 2009 by Miles and Miles), and that Minotaurasaurus was a junior synonym of Tarchia

In 2016, Penkalski and Tumanova found that the 1977 specimen that was referred to Tarchia (that Arbour thought was Saichania) had too many differences from Saichania and was actually a new Tarchia species, Tarchia teresae. They also found Minotaurasaurus to be its own genus

Estimates of the size of Tarchia have been based on Dyoplosaurus giganteus (holotype was one of the largest known ankylosaurs), and estimates were of 26 ft (8 m) long

However, Tarchia kielanae and Minotaurasaurus holotypes are smalle. Gregory Paul estimated in 2010 that Tarchia was about 14.7 ft (4.5 m) long and weighed 1.5 tonnes

Fun Fact:
Barnum Brown was named after P.T. Barnum

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs

And by Indiana University Press. Their Life of the Past series is lavishly illustrated and meticulously documented to showcase the latest findings and most compelling interpretations in the ever-changing field of paleontology. Find their books at iupress.indiana.edu

Five of those species (all but Omeisaurus maoianus) were named after the locations where they were found

Type species is Omeisaurus junghsiensis

Lots of fossils found, so may have been the most common sauropod in the Late Jurassic in China

About 66 ft (20.2 m) long and weighed 9.8 tons

The smallest species was Omeisaurus fuxiensis, at around 35 ft (11 m) long

Had a rounded body, which gave it a small surface area compared to its volume (which would help it stay warm, by reducing heat loss)

Had nostrils that faced forward

Had a long neck helped it eat foliage, could probably eat one ton of plants a day

Omeisaurus tianfuensis had one of the longest sauropod necks (30 ft, or 9.1 m). Mamenchisaurus has a longer neck

Mamenchisaurusis thought to have replaced Omeisaurus

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus was part of the Mamenchisauridae family, now it’s thought to be part of Euhelopodidae

Scientists used to think Omeisaurus had a club tail, based on the club tail fossil being found near Omeisaurus fossils, (which made it hard to figure out which family Omeisaurus belonged in), but now it’s thought to not have a club tail, because a club tail would be too heavy and throw Omeisaurus off balance

Other dinosaurs that lived at the same time and place as Omeisaurus included the sauropods Abrosaurus, Dashanpusaurus, Shunosaurus, also the stegosaur Huayangosaurus, the ornithischian Agilisaurus, and predators such as Chuandongocoelurus, Kaijiangosaurus, Gasosaurus, Leshansaurus, Xuanhanosaurus, Yangchuanosaurus

Yangchuanosaurus were big enough to be a threat to Omeisaurus

Can see Omeisaurus at the Zigong Dinosaur Museum in Zigong, China, and at the Beipei Museum, near Chongqing, in China

Euhelopodidae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs, named by Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1956

Dinosaurs in this family include Euhelopus, Chiayusaurus, Omeisaurus, Tienshanosaurus

Fun fact: Some momma birds can feed their chicks without stomach acid because they have a special pouch in their esophagus called the “crop.” Dinosaurs may have also used a crop in a similar way, although it is hard to tell since soft tissue rarely fossilizes.